Christian TetzlaffAntje Weithaas

Zankel Hall

On their own, each of these violinists is exemplary. Together, they’re a one-two knockout punch of virtuosity and style. Tetzlaff and Weithaas play music by composers who know how to bring all the beauty and fire out of the violin, from Bartók to Ysaÿe. It’s just two violins, and it promises to be spectacular.

Bios

Antje Weithaas

One of the most sought-after soloists and chamber musicians of her generation,
Antje Weithaas has a wide-ranging repertoire that includes the great concertos by Mozart,
Beethoven, and Schumann; modern classics by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Ligeti, and
Gubaidulina; and lesser performed concertos by Korngold, Hartmann, and Schoeck.

Ms. Weithaas has been invited to perform with Germany's leading orchestras, including the
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bamberger Symphoniker, Konzerthausorchester Berlin,
and the major German radio orchestras. She has also performed with numerous major
international orchestras, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony,
Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the leading orchestras of the
Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Asia. She has worked with the illustrious conductors Vladimir
Ashkenazy, Sir Neville Marriner, Yuri Temirkanov, Yakov Kreizberg, Sakari Oramo, and Carlos
Kalmar. As Artistic Director of the Camerata Bern, Ms. Weithaas will collaborate this
season with Tabea Zimmermann and Jörg Widmann, among others. As Artist-in-Residence at the
Bochum Symphony Orchestra, she performs the Beethoven and Widmann violin concertos and
directs the orchestra in several programs.

Ms. Weithaas is particularly active in the field of chamber music. Her musical partners
include Christian Tetzlaff, Tanja Tetzlaff, Clemens Hagen, Silke Avenhaus, Sharon Kam, and
Lars Vogt. She is a member of the Arcanto Quartet, along with Daniel Sepec, Tabea
Zimmermann, and Jean-Guihen Queyras. The quartet has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie,
Wigmore Hall in London, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Kölner
Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, as well as at the
Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele and the Edinburgh, Helsinki, Rheingau, and Montreux
festivals. Having already toured Japan twice, the Arcanto Quartet introduced itself to
North American audiences in October 2010. The ensemble has released three albums on
Harmonia Mundi, with repertoire by Bartók, Brahms, Ravel, Dutilleux, and Debussy. Ms.
Weithaas has released several highly praised solo recordings of sonatas by Brahms and
Mendelssohn, in addition to works by Schubert, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Fauré on AVI
Music.

Ms. Weithaas began playing the violin at age 4, and later studied at the Hochschule für
Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin with Werner Scholz. She won the International Fritz Kreisler
Violin Competition in Graz in 1987, the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in
Leipzig in 1988, and the Hannover International Violin Competition in 1991. After teaching
at the Universität der Künste Berlin, Ms. Weithaas became a professor of violin at the
Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in 2004. She plays on a 2001 Peter Greiner violin.

Known for his musical integrity, technical assurance, and intelligent
interpretations, Christian Tetzlaff is internationally recognized as one of the most
important violinists of his generation.

From the outset of his career, Mr. Tetzlaff has performed and recorded a broad spectrum of
repertoire. In high demand as a soloist around the world, he has performed with the
orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Los Angeles, as well
as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Vienna and Rotterdam philharmonic orchestras, Orchestre de
Paris, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, among many others. A dedicated chamber
musician, he collaborates with distinguished artists, including Leif Ove Andsnes and Lars
Vogt, and is the founder of the Tetzlaff Quartet, which he formed in 1994 with violinist
Elisabeth Kufferath, violist Hanna Weinmeister, and his sister, cellist Tanja
Tetzlaff.

Born in Hamburg, Mr. Tetzlaff began intensive study of the violin at age 14, and
attributes the establishment of his musical outlook to Uwe-Martin Haiberg, his teacher at
the conservatory in Lübeck. He also studied with Walter Levine at the University of
Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and spent two summers at the Marlboro Music
Festival.

As a 2010-2011 Carnegie Hall Perspectives artist, Mr. Tetzlaff appears with the
Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble ACJW with Sir Simon
Rattle, the Tetzlaff Quartet, and in a duo-recital with violinist Antje Weithaas. In
addition, he leads a Professional Training Workshop for young violinists and
pianists.

Mr. Tetzlaff's season also includes appearances with the National and Toronto symphony
orchestras; New World Symphony; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; the London
Philharmonic Orchestra in Leipzig, Helsinki, and London; and a European tour with the San
Francisco Symphony. He performs Bach's complete sonatas and partitas in Lisbon, Dresden,
and at the University of California at Berkeley, and performs Beethoven's sonatas with
pianist Alexander Lonquich in Tokyo and with the Tetzlaff Quartet throughout North America
and Europe.

Mr. Tetzlaff's highly regarded recordings include recent projects with the Russian
National Orchestra and Kent Nagano, the Tonhalle-Orchester and David Zinman, Mitsuko Uchida
and the Ensemble Intercontemporain led by Pierre Boulez, and Leif Ove Andsnes. Upcoming
recording collaborations include the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Mr. Boulez, and the
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Paavo Järvi.

Mr. Tetzlaff lives near Frankfurt with his wife, a clarinetist with the Oper Frankfurt,
and their three children. He performs on a violin modeled after a Guarneri del Gesù made by
Peter Greiner. In honor of his artistic achievements, Musical America named him
Instrumentalist of the Year in 2005.

Audio

Bartók 44 Duos for Two Violins

András Keller, Violin; Jaós Pilz, Violin

ECM

At a Glance

JEAN-MARIE LECLAIR Sonata in D Major, Op. 3, No. 6
Leclair is one of the sources of the great French tradition of violin playing that flowed through Bériot to Ysaÿe and beyond. The violinists of the French and Belgian school were known for their suavity of tone and suppleness of phrasing, in contrast to the sharp-edged brilliance favored by the Italians. These qualities are reflected in Leclair’s elegantly crafted Sonata.

BÉLA BARTÓK Violin Duos, BB 104
Although his chosen instrument was the piano, Bartók wrote with special sensitivity for the violin. His 44 short duos, designed (like his better-known Mikrokosmos for piano) as student pieces in progressive order of difficulty, grew out of his lifelong interest in the folk music of Hungary, Romania, and other eastern European countries.

CHARLES-AUGUSTE DE BÉRIOT Duo Concertant in G Minor, Op. 57, No. 1
Remembered today chiefly for his sparkling Scène de Ballet, Bériot was one of the preeminent violinists of the mid-19th century. Among the many bravura solo pieces that he wrote, primarily to show off his own mastery of the instrument, are 10 concertos and this brilliant, concerto-like duo.

EUGÈNE YSAŸE Sonata for Two Violins in A Minor
Like Bériot, Ysaÿe is better known as a violinist than as a composer. But some of his music—including six bracingly difficult sonatas for unaccompanied violin—has established itself in the modern concert repertoire. This duo sonata was written for Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, who may or may not have been up to its formidable technical challenges.